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Collection online

The Mildenhall Bacchic plate

Object type

Museum number

1946,1007.2

Title (object)

The Mildenhall Bacchic plate

Description

Silver plate with beaded rim (with 65 beads) and foot-ring. On the upper surface are raised figures of Pan in the left field, holding a pedum in his right hand and playing a syrinx held in his left; in the right field is a dancing maenad playing a double aulos. At the top of the field is a reclining water nymph, with right arm arched above her head and left leaning on a water container with water flowing from its neck. At the bottom of the field is a fawn and snake, between the main figures a typanum tambourine, and in the left field a lidded bowl on a pedestal.

Technique

Dimensions

Inscriptions

Inscription Type

Inscription Position

on base inside foot-ring

Inscription Language

Greek

Inscription Content

ευθηριου

Inscription Transliteration

Eutheriou

Inscription Translation

(Property) of Eutherios

Curator's comments

Similar in style to 1946,1007.1.One of a pair of small dishes or platters with Bacchic scenes which are closely related in style and subject to the Great Dish itself. The Greek name Eutherios is scratched lightly on the underside of the dish within the footring. It is written in the genitive (possessive) case, which suggests that he was once the owner of the plate.Blurton 1997This is one of a pair of small decorated dishes belonging to a large hoard of late-Roman silver vessels, hidden for safe-keeping at a time of trouble during the fourth century AD and unearthed in the 1940s. Silver tableware was owned and used by wealthy people in the Roman world, and was frequently very richly ornamented. Religious and mythological themes, especially relating to the cult of Bacchus, the god of wine, were typical subjects for the decoration. This group of rich silverware is decorated with traditional, classical themes, but there are also some references to Christianity, in the form of the chi-rho monogram, in the treasure. Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire in 324 AD.